As the global Internet community quietly gears up for the most significant expansion of domain names in more than a decade, the Republic of Türkiye has stepped into the conversation at exactly the right moment. ICANN President and CEO Kurtis Lindqvist has just concluded a two-day visit to the country, a visit that was less ceremonial and more strategic, focused squarely on what the upcoming New Generic Top-Level Domains Program: 2026 Round could mean for Turkish businesses, institutions, and the wider Internet ecosystem. The timing matters. The 2026 Round will reopen the door to new domain name endings for the first time since the early 2010s, moving well beyond the familiar comfort zone of .com, .org, or .net and allowing organizations to apply for domains tied to brands, cities, industries, or communities. It is, in a very real sense, a reset button for how identity and visibility work online.
For Türkiye, the opportunity is layered. At the most immediate level, Turkish companies can use new gTLDs as a form of brand armor, reducing reliance on third-party namespaces and asserting clearer global identities. At a broader level, industry groups, cultural institutions, and community organizations can explore domains that reflect sectoral strength, language, or shared purpose, giving Turkish voices more structural presence on the Internet itself. This is not just about marketing, it’s about architecture, about who gets to name themselves in the digital space and on what terms.
During a stakeholder roundtable in Istanbul, Lindqvist met with representatives from business, academia, civil society, government, and the technical community to dig into these questions in detail. The discussion moved fluidly between practical preparation for the 2026 application process and larger issues such as Internet security, resilience, and long-term stability. The Domain Name System may feel abstract to most users, but for those in the room, it was clear that policy decisions made now will ripple outward into Türkiye’s digital economy for years. Participation in the next gTLD round is not automatic, it requires planning, resources, and a clear sense of purpose, and those realities were very much on the table.
Lindqvist also held talks with Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, where the focus narrowed to Türkiye’s readiness for the 2026 Round and the role of ICANN in coordinating domain names and IP addresses at a global level. The balance is delicate. On one side sits the need for a stable, secure, and globally interoperable Internet. On the other, the legitimate desire for national perspectives to be heard and reflected within global technical coordination processes. These conversations, while often conducted away from headlines, are where the real shape of the Internet is negotiated.
Türkiye’s position in this landscape is not peripheral. ICANN’s regional office for the Middle East and Africa is based in Istanbul, anchoring stakeholder engagement and capacity-building efforts not only within Türkiye but across the wider region. That physical presence matters. It places the country at a crossroads of technical coordination, policy dialogue, and regional influence at a time when digital infrastructure is increasingly intertwined with economic and geopolitical considerations.
As preparations for the 2026 Round continue, ICANN will carry these discussions to governments, businesses, and technical communities around the world, building a shared baseline of readiness and understanding. For Turkish stakeholders, the months ahead are less about abstract possibility and more about concrete decisions: whether to apply, how to align a potential new domain with long-term goals, and what kind of digital footprint they want to leave in the next phase of the Internet’s evolution. The expansion is coming either way. The real question is who chooses to shape it.